Donald Trump’s enemies list is filled with Democratic officials, but there are few figures in public life whom the president attacks with the frequency and enthusiasm that he attacks Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.
On an almost daily basis, Trump goes after the Minnesota Democrat online and off, at home and abroad, in professional and personal terms. The president has taken an interest in the congresswoman that’s bordered on obsession. As 2025 came to an end, it reached the point at which he even started demanding that Omar leave the United States altogether.
As part of his crusade, the Republican has also pushed a separate goal: Trump wants the Minnesotan to be prosecuted for various unspecified crimes.
Last week, the president argued by way of his social media platform that officials should investigate Omar “for Financial and Political Crimes.” He didn’t point to any actual wrongdoing, but he suggested that he thinks the congresswoman might have done something wrong, and on the basis of his hunch, an investigation “should start, NOW!” (A few days earlier, he similarly wrote that Omar “should be in jail,” though he didn’t say why.)
According to the president, his demands are being taken seriously at Main Justice. Politico reported:
President Donald Trump on Monday said the Justice Department is investigating Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.). … It is the latest attack the president has levied at Omar, and the most recent instance of the president directing an investigation into his political rivals.
Soon after his missive was published, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt accused the congresswoman of committing fraud, though she also made no effort to substantiate the allegation with anything resembling evidence. Omar has repeatedly stated that she’s done nothing wrong.
What’s more, a spokesperson for Omar’s office told Politico that she hasn’t received anything from the Justice Department about an investigation — a key detail — because it’s entirely possible, if not likely, that Trump made it all up and there is no actual investigation outside the president’s overactive imagination.
If, however, the claim isn’t rooted in delusion, the Minnesota lawmaker would join a growing list of Democrats facing Trump administration investigations, which now includes former President Joe Biden, former President Bill Clinton, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, New York Attorney General Letitia James, Sen. Adam Schiff of California, Rep. Eric Swalwell of California, Sen. Ellisa Slotkin of Michigan, Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado, Rep. Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire, Rep. Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania, Rep. Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.
Last week, the president denied having weaponized the criminal justice system, suggesting instead that he simply directs the Justice Department, which he controls, to prosecute members of his enemies list — preferably quickly — without regard for evidence or legal merits, to quench his thirst for petty political retribution.
The routinization of these abuses and the corruption of the DOJ don’t make the severity of the circumstances any less scandalous.
